ICE and the detainment of illegal immigrants and people who don’t “look” American (because apparently being American has a look? Who knew!). Literally everything that happened to the indigenous peoples of North America.ĩ/11. That sounds weirdly like another point in history.īecause I was thinking something a little closer to home. It’s a future that is not only happening to some portions of people living here, but could happen to other marginalized communities of American citizens, people who have been deemed Other because their skin color, religion, citizenship status or sexuality/gender orientation didn’t match the ~American Ideal.~ The youth are our only hope to make a change.Īnd how relevant is this story? Think about current eventsthink about past eventsits depressing, but hell, its extremely plausible these days! Againshes 17! And yesa 17-year-old can and should lead the revolution. She gets beaten and imprisoned and spat on and almost gets her parents executed, all in an effort to make a change, to stand for their cause.

Eventually that fist clench and thigh punch becomes so much more.

And she succeeds! So it really frustrates me that there are reviews out there who are referring to Layla as an unsympathetic protagonist, or who only focus on her initial obsession with David, or who are annoyed that she shows her inner turmoil and rage by clenching her fists or punching her thighwhat do you expect her to do? Shes scared. Thats how she becomes the face of this revolution. Hence the blogposts, hence the media outcry, hence the interviews! David becomes Laylas tool to get news out to the world. To get their messages and stories and struggles outside. It becomes about getting in touch with someone from the OUTSIDE world to help them inside. Sure, at first, she still does some stupid things in an effort to speak to him, but then it becomes more than that.

But I also believe that it is completely normal for a 17-year-old girl to WANT to see her boyfriend, the guy that she is in love with and at that age, we all believe this is the guy were going to love for the rest of our lives, so heycut her some slack, yeah?īut was she obsessed with David the boyfriend throughout the book? No! She wasnt! Once theyre transported to a camp that is right next to an area called Manzanar, it becomes more than just seeing or speaking to her boyfriend. Yes, she was rebellious and risked getting herself and her family in trouble, and she acknowledges that and is constantly terrified of that. Yes, Layla was obsessed with finding a way to get in touch with her boyfriend. They strip down a really important story into tiny details that, honestly, are not important to the overall plot. The expectations people have these daysunreasonable.

Internment by samira ahmed audiobook